Friday 20 June 2014

Last meeting before the summer holidays - Wed 25th June

It's really important that everyone going to South Africa attends the last meeting before the summer next Wednesday in the Darroch resource centre. The only exceptions are people who will be away on other trips. Mr Wallace is coming in to talk to you as your first guest speaker - make sure you are there!

The Dloko Choir Needs You! (Part 2)

We're still short of families from the JGHS community to host the pupils coming over to perform with the Dloko choir in August. If you think you can offer accommodation in your house for one or more pupils for any number of days during the period of August 3rd-17th we'd really love to hear from you.

This is a fantastic opportunity to support the South Africa project and for Gillespie's pupils to get to know some of the pupils from Dloko so we'd like to extend this opportunity to all pupils across the school, whether or not they are able to visit South Africa themselves.

If you can help please email Lisa Gray who is coordinating the hostings (lisa.gray@jamesgillespies.edin.sch.uk).


Wednesday 18 June 2014

The Dloko Choir Needs You!

I hope that by now many of you will have heard that the wonderfully talented choir of Dloko High School are coming to Edinburgh in August to peform at the Fringe festival. This has been made possible by the work of Andrew Paterson of the John Byrne award, and former JGHS head teacher and founder of the Jabulani project, Alex Wallace.



The choir will be performing at various times throughout the festival, but are putting on three extra-special shows at the Assembly Rooms on August 12th, 13th and 14th. These dates are special for two reasons. Firstly - through a parent with connections at the Assembly Rooms - the venue has been offered for no charge, meaning that all proceeds from ticket sales can be fed back to the Dloko High School and its wider community. Secondly, the James Gillespie's Chamber Choir will be performing on stage with our South African friends for the finale item. These shows are sure to be an unforgettable experience, showcasing exceptional talent.  For more info follow this link.

To make this event as sucessful as it can be we really need the JGHS community to get on board, and there are a few ways thyou can get involved...

1. Come and see the show. Tickets are being offered at a discounted rate of £12 for JGHS pupils, parents and alumni and are available at the school reception.

2.  Encourage your friends and family to come and see the show too! Tickets for the general public are on sale now for £15, and can be bought online by following this link.

3. Join the JGHS chamber choir and perform. We're still looking for enthusiastic singers! Contact rachel.millar@jamesgillespies.edin.sch.uk for more information about joining and rehearsals.

4. Offer to host Dloko pupils during their stay. We're looking for host families from the JGHS community to offer accommodation to members of the choir during thier stay in Edinburgh from August 3rd-17th. If you think you might be able to help out by offering space in your home for a few nights please contact Lisa Gray at the school (lisa.gray@jamesgillespies.edin.sch.uk).

Hope to see you at the shows in August!

Information from Parents' Meeting on June 17th

Thanks to all who attended yesterday's parent's meeting - your support is valued as always. We've summarised as much of the information as possible below for those who couldn't make it along.

Mr McCallum provided information about the organisation and admin of the trip. Most of the information is summarised in his powerpoint presentation, which can be viewed by following this link

Miss Gray gave an overview of the purpose of the trip, and what we get up to while we are away in South Africa. Here is a link to her powerpoint presentation.

Miss Grant talked about what happens in the months leading up to the trip from now until we leave in February. This covered both what is expected of the pupils, and how parents can get involved. Here is a link to her powerpoint presentation.

The next parent's meeting will be on Tuesday 7th October at 7pm in the resource centre at Darroch. We will send a reminder about this after the summer holiday.

We hope this inforamtion is of use, and hope to see you all on October 7th!